Friday, February 5, 2010

How Many Calories in a Frappe?

Last week, our McDonalds was sponsoring a grand re-opening. They had completely remodeled the restaurant so, it wasn't exactly new. Remodeling is nice. I rarely go to McDonalds, since they had many free and very discounted items, we had more food from there last week than I have had in the past year!

One of the items they had a special on was a "Frappe". The only time I have had these. was from a coffee shop at the Minnesota State Fair, I had no desire to try one again. But, since one they the "Frappe" was given away FREE, my husband and daughter decided to try them.

The marketing concept worked well, as my daughter had decided she really enjoyed the drink. For the past few days, since the McDonalds is right next to the high school, my husband and daughter stopped there on her way to school. She got her Frappe, he got his breakfast.

Yesterday, after I picked her up from school, we were talking about how the machine was broke in the morning. She was unable to get her usual frappe, so got a mocha instead. Her next comment was "Since I've been getting those in the morning, I'm not as hungry in the mornings."

DING, DING- Light bulb went on! How many CALORIES were actually in the small frappe? I was thinking there had to be alot, dear daughter thought they were very few. After all, she stated, it is made up from coffee, and coffee does not have any calories!

Needless to say, we had a great discussion about various coffee drinks and the amount of calories in them. Her logic was there did not appear to be any syrup added to the frappe, so it couldn't have many calories. I on the other had, am always skeptical of fast food items- I figured it had more than she imagined. So, the first thing she did when we arrived home was to get the calorie count. Wow, was she suprised.

It turns out, the small Frappe she has been drinking, has 450 calories! To put that in perspective, we compared that with other groceries we bought yesterday. for the 450 calories, she can have 2 servings of the cranberry pomegranate instant oatmeal and a carton of yogurt which we had purchased. She would have to drink water, which she was drinking with her breakfast prior to the frappe.

Here is my point. The majority of us eat out a couple of times a week. I am included. We are also battling a huge obesity problem with our society, especially our children. I am not saying to deprive ourselves of the foods we like to eat and drink, I want to encourage us to be aware of the calories we consume in a day!

Oh my goodness, I love the Caramel Frappes but after reading this, I'll never drink one from McDs again. I'm diabetic and am only supposed to have 45 carbs per meal...this is 1.5 times my usual morning meal. Never again. I'll have to learn how to make a low calorie replacement at home. Thank you for passing the word!!

Thanks for the info. I have just had my first and I thought it was so good. I have been watching my calorie intake so I thought I would do some research myself. Thanks to you, I don't have to. Well, guess I'll have to say good-bye to Frappe!

About Me

I started baking as a child. I had an aunt who was into baking and cake decorating, I would go over to her house and watch, sometimes being lucky enough to assist. When I was 18 and needed Christmas presents for the family, not having any money, I turned to baking cookies. Took my first Wilton decorating course about 35 years ago. When my kids were young, I would make and decorate their cakes. I would get lost for hours while decorating, it was a way for me to show my artistic side. Now, many years later, I still enjoy baking.